I wrote a coupla weeks ago that Robin Thicke wished he was Will Downings. Will Downings wishes he was Teddy Pendergrass. Teddy Pendergrass died yesterday at the age of 59 and his life today reads like a strange practical joke being played on a great R&B singer.
Though, like many a singer before him, Teddy began his career in the church choir, he was born to love the ladies. From his days with the Gamble and Huff protogees Harol Melvin and the Bluenotes (who I saw a coupla years ago without the great Pendergrass but with the Stylistics) and hits like “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” and “Wake Up Everybody” through years of the most sexually aggressive soul songs (one of Costello’s great jokes was “TKO Knockout” off Punch the Clock -an answer to Pendergrass brilliant, love devastated “Love T.K.O’.) he was one of the most physically attractive men on the planet, Pendergrass was the epitome of manhood. And then he was paralyzed from the waist down when the breaks on his Rolls Royce failed.
But the hand of fate wasn’t finished with him. Teddy was in the car with a transexual dancer.
Now, the nature of their relationship is a matter of conjecture, though even if it was a sexual one, who cares? Pendergrass was married with children, perhaps he was bi-sexual. Big whoop. However, to say that over and above his serious injury, his reputation was shot would be completely accurate. Rumours of him being in the midst of performing fellatio when the accident occurred are legion.
So first the fates (God? Luck?) took away his sexuality by causing him to be impotent and then it took away his reputation as being a great ladies man through innuendo.
Finally, they killed him with colon cancer. Gee, thanks guys.
I am a huge Pendergrass fan and saw him live twice. Once in the 1970s when, the disco inferno tour apart (I think) the Beacon and a massive amount of women went berserk. The other time I saw Teddy was quarter of a century later and I don’t want to say he was less but it was heartbreaking to see the great man brought down.
At the start of the Pendergrass legend is the sound of Philadelphia: a highly produced, bass heavy disco sound that brought the butts on the dancefloor. Hugely influential it, it caused the Philly band the Cadillacs to change their name to Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes and allow their drummer to take over lead vocals. Along with the likes of the O’Jays it was one of the most important sounds in the R&B seventies (and a huge influence on Elton John (“Philadelphia Freedom” wasn’t ALL Billie Jean King!!)
The other part of the story was a slew of hot, sexy loverboy R&B solo albums which made Pendergrass the standard bearer of sex and one of the few men who looked exactly like what he sounded like and who is still a huge influence on modern R&B -especially the sexy songs.
Get three albums: the box set The Sound Of Philly, Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes Greatest Hits and the powerful and beautiful Pendergrass greatest hits.
In seventies soul Teddy is second only to James Brown, Al Green, Isaac Hayes, and Curtis Mayfield. He won’t be forgotten and there is nothing fate can do about that.